This memorial notes where Sir Charles Lucas (1613-1648) and Sir George Lisle (1610-1648) were shot on the orders of Sir Thomas Fairfax, the Parliamentarian General. The two men were shot in the castle yard on 28 August 1648, following the surrender of the town to Parliamentary troops during the Civil War. The men were buried at St. Giles’s Church in the town and after the restoration of the Monarchy, there was a commemoration ceremony and the actions of Fairfax were rejected by many. Lucas was given a posthumous peerage in 1666 and the decision to shoot them was seen as a miscarriage of justice, even for the period. Lisle had said to the firing squad “now rebels, do your worst” and Lucas was equally brave.
This memorial stone was unveiled here behind Colchester Castle, where the men were killed, on 20 October 1892 at a ceremony attended by Henry Laver.
The Victoria’s web-site has the message “we pride ourselves on being able to source many ales that you may not have tasted before, many from micro breweries who don’t usually supply nationally so we take the time to go and fetch them ourselves. Not for us the safe route of Adnams, London Pride, Doombar, etc……” which is one of the most reassuring things that a pub can say. Although I understand that many pubs are tied and don’t have this flexibility, it’s still relatively rare to get an interesting choice of beers.
Some of the real ales and ciders, there were also pumps to the right with what might be defined as more exotic craft options, with beers from Bone Machine, Turning Point and the Cloudwater Brew Co. There was a friendly welcome from a staff member perched by the counter, giving him an ideal vantage point to get customers to sign in, seat them and engage with them as required. The staff members were helpful, friendly and there was a relaxed feel to the whole pub. All rather lovely.
This is the two-thirds of the Mary Ann is Dead from Bone Machine, although I caused some moderate confusion by ordering a drink in this measure. The barman was immensely helpful in working out the price and finding a suitable glass, I have somewhat got in the habit of ordering in thirds without checking the pub was set-up to do that. I liked that this unintentional curveball didn’t annoy the barman though. The drink has a rich and decadent taste of mint running through it, along with the chocolate flavour, very moreish. There was a limited aftertaste though, although the initial hit was quite strong, but this is still a very beautiful drink.
I pinched from Nathan a taster of the Multi-Dimensional Being from Cloudwater Brew Co. and I have no idea what on earth this drink was, defined loosely as a brown ale and it had a whole array of different flavours. My palate wasn’t good enough to know what these flavours were, other than slightly fruity whilst maintaining some elements of a stronger beer such as notes of chocolate. But, whatever the flavours were, this was a quite magnificent drink and I opted for one of my ever rare 4.75 out of 5 scores on Untappd. I could rightly say that no-one is really bothered about what I think of a beer, but I’m pleased that the brewery noted and acknowledged the score when they saw it.
It was a little bit of a shame that the pub didn’t open longer into the evening, as there were numerous other drinks options that looked tempting. But, I’m sure I’ll be back in the future. And this is one of my favourite pubs of the year.
I’ve been to relatively few JD Wetherspoon pubs in Essex, but I visited here in 2017. It’s a grand former Post Office building which was constructed in 1896, with the transformation into a pub being sympathetic.
When I visited the pub in the evening there was a fight taking place and customers being dragged out by staff. Just what you want on a weekday in the early evening, but I like a bit of excitement to be fair. The photo above was taken during breakfast, when things were just a little more sedate and peaceful.
The half chicken and chips, something which has now been withdrawn from the menu, but which tasted fine. I can’t remember the real ale selection, but JD Wetherspoons rarely let me down in that regard.
And the breakfast, with the egg being overcooked, but all else was well.
Disappointingly, the pub seems to have picked up no comments on TripAdvisor that seem ridiculous, so nothing worth quoting from there. Well, other than the complaint:
“Ordered a bottle of Pinot Rose. Very rude bar staff with long brown hair argued with me for about then mins telling me there is no such thing as Pinot Rose and Pinot was White. Please educate your staff as Pinot is a brand n not a damn colour. Never felt so angry, the way she spoke to me was disgusting, serious attitude problem. Embarrassing. Then I got given some nasty Hardy’s Rose bottle.”
The staff member was likely right, I’ve got a copy of the 2017 menu and they did only sell Pinot as a white wine at the pub, so she would have struggled to give him another other type of Pinot.
This can’t be an easy operation to run, a cheap pub in a seaside destination which gets stag and hen groups amongst others, I imagine their door staff are frequently challenged. There’s always a risk that these beautiful Victorian buildings are lost, so all credit to JD Wetherspoons for ensuring that they have been kept and remain in use.
